Doing the hipster thing
On
Thursday night last week, Shane and I headed out to Commercial Drive – the “artsy” part of
town – for a series of concerts. The
Libra Room along the Drive was hosting four artists as part of the larger New
Music West event. I was particularly
interested in seeing Kensington Prairie, an off-shoot of local indie band Maplewood Lane
(whose music I know and love).
The
Libra Room presents live music every night, so the set-up is perfect for
performance. There is a small, foot-high
stage along the front window of the restaurant, creating an intimate feel for
the attendees and providing an intriguing peek inside for people passing by. We sat down at a table not 20 feet away from
the stage and ordered a few drinks and dessert (mmm, chocolate fondue).
Each
group went on for about 45 minutes. The
first two bands were from Australia
– one, a solo female act with a very funky, jazz sound and the other a male and
female duo that combined catchy keyboard hooks with a violin to create “gypsy
folk.” (Shane and I both preferred
the latter.) Kensington Prairie played
third, and I liked their soothing, country sound (very Hem-like) enough to buy
their debut CD after.
But
the most entertaining part of the night was the final band, an Icelandic group called Sprengjuhöllin. With five guys crammed on stage, they rocked
the joint with poppy, upbeat tunes, like a foreign meld of Belle &
Sebastian with Jimmy Eat World. They
were also hilarious; since most of the songs are in Icelandic,
they would makeup names for each piece to amuse the audience. Examples included Maple Syrup, Hockey Game (Vancouver Wins Over Montreal)
and Undress Me With Your Lazy Eye. Oh, and a song about “how the Canadian border
guards are all really nice and the American border guards are really mean and
evil.” Awesome (and also: true).
All in all, our virgin concert experience in Vancouver garners two thumbs up. And that doesn’t even factor in getting home at 12 a.m. and NOT HAVING TO WORK THE NEXT DAY. (Ah, the sometimes perks of unemployment.)
